Dodgers News: Grandal Says Carlos Frias Is Expanding Arsenal
The Los Angeles Dodgers have been dealing with injuries all season, and perhaps the biggest hit came in the starting rotation as Hyun-Jin Ryu and Brandon McCarthy are both out for the season after having arm surgeries.
While many thought the Dodgers would go out and make a move to acquire starting pitching help, the team has instead looked within the organization for that help. Carlos Frias has been one of the guys to fill in and succeed in the starting rotation. The 25-year-old is 4-3 with a 3.86 ERA in 10 appearances (eight starts) this season. He has given up three earned runs or less in seven of the eight starts.
He gave up one run in 6.2 innings in Tuesday’s 3-1 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks, and after the game his catcher Yasmani Grandal gave his take on Frias thus far. “He gives glances of how good he can be at times, but then again he has one of those outings where he doesn’t even know where the ball is going so I kind of settle him back down to Earth,” Grandal said.
Grandal went on to praise Frias, adding that he has been improving throughout the season. “He’s made strides as he’s gone along. Every time he takes three steps back it seems he takes 10 steps forward. He gets a bad outing, he comes back and gets a good outing so hopefully next time he comes out he gives another good outing and we can make it a little streak. But if he keeps on going he should be fine,” the Dodger catcher said.
He also had good things to say about Frias’ changeup after Tuesday’s game, and said that he may be adding another weapon to his arsenal in the future. “I think the next pitch that should be coming along is that curveball. He can play it off his slider and kind of get the first strike and if he does that I think he should be fine,” Grandal said.
Frias is a hard thrower, and has mostly just thrown fastballs and sliders up until this point. If he can add a consistent changeup and curveball to that, then he can be a very successful starter for many years to come.
[divide]Joc Pederson Discusses Walk-Up Song Prank
